In Feburary of 2004 I placed a bid on E-Bay for a microcar. When my bid limit was surpassed, I forgot about it. A couple of days later I got an email asking if I would be interested at the price I bid. Seems the hi bidder fell apart on inspection. What I knew about Isettas then, you could fit in your hat! From 10 yards away, this car looks pretty cute. As you get closer the details reveal a complete restoration is in order.
Rust was prevelant..all over the place, but I fell in love anyway. This picture was just after I unloaded it from the trailer ride from Menlo Park.
The next day I decided to drive it to the other end of Sebastopol to see if I could get tires for it. The rubber was pretty rotten, but the tire guys did not know where to buy such a strange little thing. On the way home, I was going down a hill and doing about 35 when all of a sudden the car began to shake and shimmy. I think I actually lost one of the inner fenders. I had to stop and then start up again. I began to do a lot more research online and discovered that this is what is known as the Isetta Watusi. Easy correction is by adding a steering damper from a VW to the steering linkage.
I knew that "rust never sleeps" and it bothered me that the car had been let go for so long. Because of the amount of rust spots appearing around the body, I felt that the car should have a new suit of clothes. My idea was to remove the insides and redo the seat and upholstery after the paint job.
I began to sand out the rust spots to prep for new paint. There was no place on the old body that did not have bondo on it. The car must have been rolled down the street at one point. The body had been welded to the frame and so the body-off restoration was out of the question. My objective became to preserve what was there and re-assemble a fun driver.
The black tar that was used as sound deadener applied to the inside of the body proved to be most difficult to remove. A heat gun and scraper made for hot hard work.
The next best thing was to cover it up. I found a material that was heavy enough to deaden the sound and would look good when applied. I dispensed with the pasteboard panels and glued my interior directly to the body. This gives me a slightly larger feeling inside. It makes for a noisier ride, tho!
I glued down a reflective insulation to the parcel shelf and firewall before the interior material to help with keeping the cab cool.
Paint color was something that you could see and John Deere Yellow is readily available in spray cans for touch ups. The result?
One day I was having trouble getting the engine to start. I tried replacing the battery, checking the electrical connections and finally decided to see if my local BMW shop might be able to help. I push started (I live on a hill) the Isetta and drove into town. That is pretty scary in itself. You are driving at the blistering pace of 35mph and the gargantuan SUV's operated by women on the cell phone, come right up on your tail until you can't see anything except grille and headlights. Of course there is no place to pull over and plenty of on-coming traffic. If there is a break in the flow of cars going the other way, they are blowing by you over the double yellow...Then I have my revenge as I pull up behind them at the next light.
I pulled into the shop and they were kind enough to have a man take a look right away. We figured out where to place the lift pads and hoisted the car off the ground 2 feet. The mechanic checked the connections by wiggling the wires and then asked me to turn the key to start the car. Of course it turned right over. The mechanic turned to me and said "If it's not broke, I can't fix it!" and so I got back in the car to head home.
On the highway there is a nice long gradual downhill and I decided to see just how fast the Isetta would go. I put the pedal to the floor and was roaring along at 48mph when "POP" "Clunk" "RRRRRrrrrrrrrrr". I ground to a stop just before the bridge over the Russian River. There was no apron to pull over on and I began pushing and waving the traffic around.
I came to a turnout and driveway. I called my son, Kevin to get the truck and we could rig a tow line to pull me home. We took a couple of turns around the front nerf bar (Bumper) and I held the end in the cabin and managed to get the door closed. Steering with one hand, holding the rope with the other, feet on the brakes and holding my head out of the window screaming "SLOW DOWN" at the top of my lungs (Kevin was driving 25, but it felt like 50 and he couldn't hear me with the AC on and the windows up). We made it!
I decided that I was going to have to do my own work on the car and purchased John Jensen's book, "The Isetta Restoration Manual". I was worried about paying $85 for a book that didn't have the information I needed. John did a great job and most everything I have ever wanted has been addressed in this book. It has been worth it's weight in gold!
I pulled the engine out of the car and began taking it apart. This is what I
found 
The
exhaust valve stuck in the guides and snapped off at 6,000 rpm and then
proceeded to pound a hole in the top of the piston. Subsequent research revealed
that a complete overhaul of the engine must be done at 20,000 miles. The Isetta
innards are lubricated using a disk called the slinger. Sludge and dirt build up
in the slot of the slinger and soon no oil is circulating to carry away heat and
lubricate the valves and rocker arms.
I sent the engine out to South Carolina for a rebuild by Bill Rogers. We
located new crank, camshaft and piston. Cleaned and repainted, the motor looks nice.
Humongus thanks to the following for their work in supplying information on the web, in print and via
email:
Bill Rogers-Great work in restoring Isetta engines and transmissions http://www.isettadoc.com/
John Jensen-Author of The Isetta Restoration Manual (if you have an Isetta, you need this book; Available from Lulu.com)
John Jensen <jensen.f8@gmail.com>
Cycleworks-The essential itool kit (for engine teardown and rebuilding) Parts sales, engine crank replacement and balance, two videos on how to tear down and reassemble your Isetta engine. http://www.cycleworks.net
Werner Schwark-Isettas-R-Us Excellent Catalog listing parts and exploded drawings.
isettas_r_us@mindspring.com
Robert (Bubba) Mace-An incredibly rich resource site http://www.whirlingpool.com/isetta/isetta.htm
Isetta Tech-The Texas way. http://www.isettatech.com/
The Vintage Microcar Club- The best microcar magazine EVER! Full color; lotsa "how to" Articles; deep resources on microcar driving and restoration. Many Isettas (and other microcars) are sold or noted each month. Well worth the annual Dues!
The funnest part of all this is driving around in the Isetta
collecting HUGE smiles with people laughing and pointing at my strange little
car.
The
last couple of years, we have had several gatherings to take a ride on the
beautiful backroads of Sonoma County.
I named it Toad.
I started filling and sanding. It took a long time. Then two coats of primer:
I got Toad a new home in Denver-Feburary 2010
Email me with your questions and I'll get right back to you.
stevesproul@ncalcontractor.com 
7.19.2011
